One country: Pakistan. Two children: Iqbal Masih and Malala Yousafzai. Each was unafraid to speak out. He, against inhumane child slavery in the carpet trade. She, for the right of girls to attend school. Both were shot by those who disagreed with them—he in 1995, she in 2012. Iqbal was killed instantly; Malala miraculously survived and continues to speak out around the world. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her work.
The series follows three friends who love to share stories. In each book, one is reminded of a well-known story: It’s Not About the Ball! is based on The Frog Prince; It’s Not About the Tiny Girl! is based on Thumbelina; It’s Not About the Diamonds! is based on the story of Diamonds and Toads; It’s Not About the Straw! is based on Rumpelstiltskin and It’s Not About the Beanstalk! is based on Jack and the Beanstalk.
Every spring, Lilia Garcia had to leave school early to go north with her family to pick fruits and vegetables. She was too young to work in the fields with the rest of the family, so her mother and teenage brother would sign her up to attend the local school. She was the only Spanish-speaking child at Coloma Elementary, and that, combined with the fact that it was late in the school year, made it difficult to make friends and keep up with the work.
Everywhere that Christopher Lane turns, he sees the face of the boy he killed. There is no escape from the guilt, not even on his return to Myers Holt—the secret London academy where he and five others are being trained to use their mental powers, their Ability.
Edda, the littlest Valkyrie, leaves the magical land of Asgard to attend school in hopes of making a friend her own age, but feels like an outcast until she finds her courage and learns that being different makes her special.
With the help of his younger sister, 7-year-old Abdul raises money to go to school by selling oranges in the marketplace in Sierra Leone.
On her first day at school, Elizabeti misses her family and wonders if it wouldn’t be better to stay home, but the young Tanzanian girl discovers the joy of learning and finds a pleasant surprise when she gets home.
Amanda’s ordinary day has her riding to school with a Tyrannosaurus rex, talking after lunch with an alien, sailing a pirate ship at the school library, and riding home on an elephant.
Armando and his father are trash-pickers in Tijuana, Mexico, but when Senor David brings his “school”–a blue tarp set down near the garbage dump–to their neighborhood, Armando’s father decides that he must attend classes and learn. Based on a true story.
Spirited Gladys Elizabeth is at it again! It is career day at school and Gladys Elizabeth boldly announces that she is going to be a firegirl. After a classmate tells her that girls cannot fight fires.